Random Sketch: Marvel’s Black Cat!

Sometimes, I just draw something.

It’s Summer Vacation, so content is pretty loosely defined right now. I was considering doing another X-Wing themed post, since I’m playing again tomorrow…but that can wait until tomorrow. I’ve had the idea for this sitting on my clipboard, waiting for an attempt for over a month now, so I wanted to give it a try.

First off, yes, Marvel’s Black Cat is kind of a Catwoman knock off. There’s just so much you can do with the female cat themed burglar concept. One of the key differences was that Felicia (the Black Cat) is kind of a nice person, despite stealing expensive things. The kind of person that you, me or Spider-Man would actually want to date, despite the murky ethical ground that puts any superhero on. Spider-man, not being Batman, can actually act on that, and they have a complicated relationship for a while. It’s a solid run of Spider-man stories in the 80’s, that are worth a look.

What was really experimental for me about the sketch was twofold. One…it’s in a style that a whole lot of people on the internet do well, as well as several working comic artists. A very Bruce Timm, animation inspired look that is deceptively hard to manage. There are very, very few lines, and those lines should actually be drawn with a bolder, more continuous stroke than I execute in pencils. It’s surprisingly hard to emulate, and presented a major challenge.

Secondly…there’s very high contrast. Sure, her outfit is mostly black spandex, we know that. But if you just color her in black, she lacks dimension, she lacks shininess that spandex would have. So there need to be degrees of black, and black areas that are clearly defined from each other. Not easy, even with a reference of some kind.

I really like the Black Cat as a character, even though Marvel doesn’t do much with her any longer. I’m thinking that she can make a few appearances here this summer, as well as the better known Catwoman. Right now, even the protagonist and all the ponies from the Fortress are taking a few days off…understandably. With no work to do, they have to figure out how to spend time. As a result, we get a sketch that resembles a sticker that I used to have in the rear window of my car.